Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885) was die first person in Britain to draw supply and
demand curves, discussing them as mathematical functions and employing them to study economic problems. A celebrated engineer, he made remarkable contributions to economics, that aFleeming Jenkin (1833-1885) was die first person in Britain to draw supply and
demand curves, discussing them as mathematical functions and employing them to study economic problems. A celebrated engineer, he made remarkable contributions to economics, that attracted little attention in his time. This article goes through Jenkin's
thought, emphasizing his analysis of the three laws of supply and demand, and its application
to the labour market and the taxes, that produced the independent discovery
of the notion of consumer and producer surplus. The article holds that a reason why
Jenkin lacked the acknowledgement he deserved lay in the hostile attitude towards him
by Jevons and Marshall, who undervalued his contributions and insisted that they had
anticipated Jenkin. The article concludes that this claim is unfounded.[+][-]